Disturbing reports from the Pew Research Center indicate that race-related wealth disparity is not shrinking but growing. Even though all ethnic groups surveyed are earning less, the decline in household incomes and net worth was significantly greater for blacks and Hispanics versus whites. Kochhar, Fry & Taylor (2011) claim that lower property values are partly to blame, along with bursts in the housing market bubbles disproportionately affecting nonwhite homeowners in specific geographic areas like Arizona, Florida, California, and Nevada. The research generally points to a “rich getting richer, poor getting poorer” phenomenon. Given that nonwhites have historically bore the brunt of wealth inequality, further gaps between rich and poor will affect nonwhites exponentially more. This article also shows the dangers inherent in keeping the bulk of net worth tied up with home equity; Kochhar, Fry & Taylor (2011) claim that one of the reasons for the widening gap between whites and blacks is due to blacks having more than half (59%) of net worth tied to home equity, versus 44% for whites (p. 5). However, other factors such as having no hard assets also hits nonwhites more than whites. Underserved communities may need to channel wealth into assets other than real estate in volatile markets.
References
Kochhar, R., Fry, R. & Taylor, P. (2011). Wealth gaps rise to record highs between whites, blacks, and Hispanics.
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